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Carnival vs. Royal Caribbean

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sfven

sfven

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Our first cruise was on Carnival, and we just recently sailed with Royal Caribbean. Carnival was definitely the party ship and Royal Caribbean was the geriatrics ship. The evenings were much more lively on Carnival with all venues packed. On Royal, every night after 9pm (except the last night's karaoke finals) it was like a ghost ship. Maybe we were on a seniors reunion cruise, because it seemed as though it was mainly seniors. We did see some children, but saw a lot more on Carnival. But both ships seem to keep the kids entertained well during the day because we hardly saw them. I think the food was a little better on Royal Caribbean, but the rooms were bigger on Carnival. And I definitely agree, they need to enforce formal night attire. The seniors on Royal went all out, but they shouldn't have let the guy wearing the tuxedo t-shirt in the dining room.
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dtdoda

dtdoda

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I think her post was rather humorous! Sadly, I've witnessed just about every funny situation she described; especially the lack of proper attire in the dining room and hot tubs turned into kiddie splash pools. Even worse are the parents (if you can call them that!) that turn their kids loose on the ship, totally oblivious to what their little darlings are doing. I miss the days when everyone on board acted properly and appreciated the wonderful experience that cruising is, without trying to dumb it down to the level of spring break or a frat party. My advice is to pick the cruise line, ship and sail date carefully so as to minimize the number of passengers that are likely to engage in boorish behavior.

Thank you. That is exactly what I am talking about. We did not see that sort of behavior when we sailed on Celebrity out of Miami and the service and food was, without question, much much better.

 

Here's a ranking of cruise lines.

 

http://www.luxurient.com/newsletters/Post/CruiseLineRankings_1062003.html

 

If you scroll down this page, on the right, you'll see a rating of what percentage of passengers were satisfied with their cruise. Carnival rates near the bottom.

 

http://www.cruisedirectonline.com/cruiseshipratings.htm

 

We're actually booking a 7 night Mexican Riviera cruise out of San Diego on Holland America.

 

The crowd may be older than us, but at least we won;t have to deal with some out of control brats.

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tokanm

tokanm

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I've done RC, Carnival and Norwegian. IMHO, RC is the absolute best:gdthums:

They have the bigger ships and the service/food/entertainment is top notch.

Do you want freestyle cruising or a more traditional cruise.

I agree Carnival is a party ship and RCCL is more elegant.

You will probably have fun no matter which you decide as you don't have to cook or

clean and you get to visit exotic places:tongue1:

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childofsolitude

childofsolitude

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I've been on two RC cruises and one Carnival cruise. I enjoyed the RC cruises far more than the Carnival one for several reasons.

 

1. The shows. RC's nightly shows were well planned out whereas Carnival's shows were thrown together (random comedians who weren't even funny).

 

2. The dining room experience. Both cruiselines had dress codes for guests who wanted to eat in the dining room. RC's guests were made to follow them. Carnival's guests weren't. My first night on Carnival was such a huge disappointment when I saw everyone in the dining room wearing shorts and t-shirts. On RC, I LOVED having to dress up at night and seeing everyone else looking pretty/handsome. RC offered formal pictures of guests wearing their formal outfits. Carnival didn't do this.

 

3. Daily entertainment. RC offered entertainment throughout the day for every age type. Carnival did not. You were basically left to fend for yourself.

 

4. The overall ship design. RC made you feel like you were actually on a cruise. The interior design was incredible. Carnival's interior design was..well, juvenile.

 

5. The food. The first time I had lamb was on RC. They offered the coolest things for dinner. Carnival's dinner choices were weird. I was left to eat pasta all the time. Breakfast was 10 times better on RC. More choices. Better quality.

 

6. The skating rink. RC had one. Carnival didn't.

 

7. The kids. Admittedly, I'm not a huge fan of screaming, little children. RC at least attempted to control them. Carnival didn't.

 

I know there's more that I'm missing but some of the other posters may have pointed them out already (I haven't read the other posts in this thread).

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disneynutangie

disneynutangie

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I guess my overweight butt needs to avoid any cruise where dtdoda is. Good thing is I do wear a one piece. Dtdoda might think I am a redneck and only eat the buffet. Hope she doesn't see the tat my husband has of the barbwire around his arm (typical redneck tat right?). I am sure I would be judged by you just on our look and not our behavior right? The thing is we are just your normal good ole' people from North Carolina. My husband is a college grad who is a police officer. As far as me I am a professional.

 

More than likely many of those people on the cruise you put in the redneck catagory are high paying blue-collar workers. They are just a little rough around the edges. Money does not buy class.

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Guest koby

Guest koby

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I guess my overweight butt needs to avoid any cruise where dtdoda is. Good thing is I do wear a one piece. Dtdoda might think I am a redneck and only eat the buffet. Hope she doesn't see the tat my husband has of the barbwire around his arm (typical redneck tat right?). I am sure I would be judged by you just on our look and not our behavior right? The thing is we are just your normal good ole' people from North Carolina. My husband is a college grad who is a police officer. As far as me I am a professional.

 

More than likely many of those people on the cruise you put in the redneck catagory are high paying blue-collar workers. They are just a little rough around the edges. Money does not buy class.

You go girl!!!!!

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jeninpa

jeninpa

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I guess my overweight butt needs to avoid any cruise where dtdoda is. Good thing is I do wear a one piece. Dtdoda might think I am a redneck and only eat the buffet. Hope she doesn't see the tat my husband has of the barbwire around his arm (typical redneck tat right?). I am sure I would be judged by you just on our look and not our behavior right? The thing is we are just your normal good ole' people from North Carolina. My husband is a college grad who is a police officer. As far as me I am a professional.

 

More than likely many of those people on the cruise you put in the redneck catagory are high paying blue-collar workers. They are just a little rough around the edges. Money does not buy class.

I found it quite funny and thought it was all in good fun. I guess you guys aren't fans of Jeff Foxworthy, Ron White or Larry The Cable Guy,lol. Of course Carlos Mencia is my favorite so maybe I'm just messed up :sidesplit !

 

FYI dtdoda: Avoid Cancun where the clothing optional beaches are because I know someone who went and it was pretty scary,lmao. You thought 2 pieces were bad! Age and size didn't matter to most of those people I gues,lmao.

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dtdoda

dtdoda

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I tend to like Jeff Foxworty and the Git R Done guy too. That is comedy. I don't think the prior post was meant for our comdey pleasure.

You thought wrong. I only write in humour. Go back and find my "spring training review" that I posted last March. That's what I do.

 

"I am sure I would be judged by you just on our look and not our behavior right? "

 

Wrong again. I suggest you read what I wrote and stop assuming and making suppositions of what I would do or say.

 

I never said a thing about tats in general, even if I don't care for them. I made a comment about THAT one which was stupid, even for a tat.

 

Oh, and I never judged anyone on appearance. Read what I wrote. I wrote about parents who let their kids run loose. That's just plain rude and inexcusable.

 

I complained about people that dressed inappropriately for what was a formal dress dinner. In that case, their appearance was the issue.

 

Money doesn't buy class. If some of these people who were letting their kids run wild or who couldn't meet the simple standard of required dress for the dining room were "high paying blue collar workers", then I completely agree.

 

Try reading for comprehension.

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ICF

ICF

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I've been on two RC cruises and one Carnival cruise. I enjoyed the RC cruises far more than the Carnival one for several reasons.

 

2. The dining room experience. Both cruiselines had dress codes for guests who wanted to eat in the dining room. RC's guests were made to follow them. Carnival's guests weren't. My first night on Carnival was such a huge disappointment when I saw everyone in the dining room wearing shorts and t-shirts. On RC, I LOVED having to dress up at night and seeing everyone else looking pretty/handsome. RC offered formal pictures of guests wearing their formal outfits. Carnival didn't do this.

I'm not sure of how RC run things, but a couple of notes on your point.

 

When we went last time on Carnival back in 2000...

 

At the 1st night dinner @ 530 or so (I forget the exact time) many people didn't have their luggage yet. As such, many people had to wear to dinner what they wore on the plane. So most of us were in jeans and such. After that night, while there were a few in jeans I don't think anyone was in shorts.

 

Carnival also sold pictures of people from the formal nights. Actually, Carnival offers pictures for sale of darn near everything you do on the cruise except when you go to the bathroom!! ;)

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dtdoda

dtdoda

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http://www.consumeraffairs.com/travel/carnival_cruise_lines.htm

 

Carnival Cruise Lines

 

To say that Carnival gets more than its share of complaints would be quite an understatement. We get more complaints about Carnival than about all other cruise lines combined. We'd recommend reading this section carefully before you put down big bucks -- not after.

 

Here are just a few of the more recent complaints ...

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jeninpa

jeninpa

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http://www.consumeraffairs.com/travel/carnival_cruise_lines.htm

 

Carnival Cruise Lines

 

To say that Carnival gets more than its share of complaints would be quite an understatement. We get more complaints about Carnival than about all other cruise lines combined. We'd recommend reading this section carefully before you put down big bucks -- not after.

 

Here are just a few of the more recent complaints ...

 

Now I'm a little worried,lol. I was thinking of going with Carnival since the price is right (@$4000 for all 6 of us!) and we can drive to a port instead of flying to FL but I don't know now!

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kjunea

kjunea

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As a veteran of over 10 cruises on Carnival and RCCL, I can tell you that they both had wonderful points and not so wonderful points. I too thought that Carnival was a party ship, because the only cruise I had taken with them was a 3-night one. Then I took a 4-night RCCL and it was a party cruise too! It seems the shorter the cruise, the more partying regardless of the cruiseline!

 

I've also noticed that Carnival is better for younger kids and RCCL is better for teens. Again, this is my own personal observation, so YMMV. My neices and nephews seemed to really love the Carnival Club, but outgrew it around the 10-12 year stage and found more things to do on the RCCL after that point. (We do a lot of family cruising, with multiple ages.) We've always picked our cruises by the ports of call and the ship.

 

Some general guidelines that you might want to think about:

1. Newer ships have better facilities for all ages. Look what each line offers. Do you really want to ice skate or waterslide? (PS -- waterslide is only open for certain periods, not all the time...) Do you want pizza 24 hours a day or full room service available. (Some cruiselines will only have limited items available in your room service, and some will have the entire evening menu available for a short time.)

2. One of the gaudiest ships I've been on is a Carnival (Fantasy) and one of the most beautiful has been a Carnival (Miracle). RCCL is usually very nice.

3. If cabin size is important, go with Carnival. Cabins are noticably bigger. However, if might be that your closet at home is bigger than most cabins, so please be aware of that.

4. Where do you want to travel? I've been all over the Caribbean, Hawaii, etc. and we now pick by the ship.

5. Look at ship size. Megaships that hold 3000+ will always have lines somewhere! I generally try to stick with 1800-2000 people max ships. They usually offer everything I want to do, but not as many people.

 

The most important thing you can do is your homework! Ask people who they've cruised with, go to websites (www.cruisecritic.com is a great one for ideas/opinions. Go to the forum boards and look around! You will find great tips on what to do, how to save money -- always appreciated, shore excursions, etc.), and generally figure out what is most important for you.

 

Remember, people take cruises for different reasons and most believe that they don't care what anyone else thinks of them because you will never see them again! I've had good and bad experiences on every cruise I've been on! I've had to stand in line for supper/buffets/shore excursions/picture taking, etc. Keep an open mind, enjoy yourself and you will have a great time!

 

HTH

 

June

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showtieraw

showtieraw

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Here is the consensus.

 

Royal Caribbean is known for having better food, better service and better entertainment. However Carnival tends to have more of a party atmosphere due to the fact that your are going to have more party type people on Carnival (just my opinion, don't know why this is). So it all depends on what u want. Carnival IMO is more suited for younger people (18-30), while Royal Caribbean is more for families and age 30+ couples. Either way cruises are alot of fun and either one should give you a good time.

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civicracinggirl7

civicracinggirl7

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I've been on 2 Carnival cruises. The first was when I was 13, and my parents chose to take us on Carnival -- after being on RC before -- as they felt it was more suited for kids than RC was. We ended up taking the second about 6 years later due to a good price, and I have no complaints. My mom has been on a few RC ones before, and prefers to cruise with them, but does not feel that they are suitable for children... so, if you're bringing your son, then you'll probably want to go Carnival.
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Trishy

Trishy

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We went on the 9 night Halloween caribbean cruise just a few months ago. We used RC out of the port of Baltimore which is soooo convienent for us. We have the 9 night Thanksgiving one booked for this year also. I soo much prefer RC over the others. Luckily we didn't run into the problems with the kids. The staff took very good care of the few we had aboard. The food in the DR was excellent. The service was wonderful. We didn't want for anything. We had really rough seas the first day so they opened the DR to everyone dressed anyway they wanted becase the buffet had been closed down. All of the food and utensils went flying off of thier shelves. It was horrible. People were laying on the floors. sofas, chairs- you name it for the first few days. I'd say about half or more of the people were sea sick. Luckily for us the only problem we had was keeping or adult beverage from flying off the table. Anyhow- I'd pick RC hands down. JMHO.
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